


For Victory

by Leni



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Gen, Role Reversal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-01
Updated: 2014-10-01
Packaged: 2018-02-19 11:48:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2387201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leni/pseuds/Leni
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki joins the Avengers, seeking their help to stop his mad brother.  (<b>Warning:</b> summary may be misleading.)</p><p>"So, your brother," one says. "Got the short stick on the sanity gene?"<br/>"Not that it was in abundance," another adds.<br/>Loki ignores the comment, though he marks the insult. Suitable payback will be delivered at a later date. "Thor has been... troubled."</p>
            </blockquote>





	For Victory

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Scathach](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scathach/gifts).



> Written for Yuidirnt at [Comment Fic](http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/561192.html?thread=79075624#t79075624). Prompt: **Loki is the Avenger while Thor is the villain.**

Loki stands proud in their community room, having refused the offer of a seat. He's not their guest and he won't let himself be bound by hospitality laws - as such as they can be in the world; he is their potential ally, and his help depends on their usefulness.

For now he lets them stare, and he studies them in exchange. Four men and one woman, making a passable picture of a team though a closer look at their body language doesn't match that impression. They have not bonded, not truly. _They're breakable,_ Loki thinks, though his smirk fades when he remembers that even true-hearted warriors can fight together and still fall.

"Loki," the blond man starts. "What's his play?"

He asks about Thor. He must tell them something, a honest answer, and if he shows a side of the truth that makes them help him, so be it. "He's been asked to lead an army to destroy this world." In exchange for the Tesseract, he doesn't say. The less people who know about it, the easier it will be to make a grab for it when the time comes.

Thor's plan is not bad, as far as Thor's plans usually are. They do need a great source of power in order to recover their kingdom. Loki just wishes that his brother could have been in a saner mindset when he set off to get it. Or even better, that he'd consulted with Loki first. Between Thor's power and his own abilities, they would have the Tesseract in their hands already.

Instead Thor will try to use it by himself, and burn himself out in the process.

Loki cannot allow that to happen.

"They're called the Chitauri," he tells them, for it's a minor detail. Their name doesn't matter, when there are thousands and each is stronger than all the weaponry he's seen on this world. If they cross the portal here, the game is lost. Loki doesn't wish to witness the death of another world, he's not even particularly interested in watching _these_ people rush to sacrifice themselves in vain, so he'll do his best to align his goals to theirs.

"'Asked', you said," the man who carries a bow latches onto that detail. A smart man, Loki allows. "By whom?"

"I do not know."

Nor does he care.

Their expressions turn suspicious at his answer, and another might bristle at the unearned distrust. But Loki has grown up as the master of tricks in his father's court. Suspicion only means that someone has heard of his reputation. For now he allows the team to scrutinize him, and doesn't let their unsaid thoughts bother him. He may join their alliance this once, but he was a prince, and he remains a god; they're just heroes who need his help. He learned how to handle their type in Asgard, before they lost the war. 

"So, your brother," the man who wore the metal mask says, breaking the silence. "Got the short stick on the sanity gene?"

"Not that it was in abundance," the man with the bow mumbles.

Loki ignores the comment, though he marks the insult. Suitable payback will be delivered at a later date. "Thor has been... troubled." he answers the question, because, although he did not understand that last term, the meaning of it is obvious. 

It's an understatement, of course. Thor is sick with grief, angered by his own helplessness. Traumatized by the deaths of every person he's ever loved - and betrayed by the only one left. But 'troubled' will do for these people; they don't need to learn of Asgard's weakness.

"He's killed seventy-four people _in ten minutes_ ," the red-headed woman snaps, glaring daggers at him, "and the number keeps adding up."

Loki fights the urge to close his eyes in sorrow. The loss of life is bad enough, but the fact that it will add to Thor's burden is unacceptable. He must find a way to hide this incident from his brother, once he recovers him. There are already too many things Thor must learn to cope with. "He's never been subtle," he tells them.

They stare back, anger simmering under the surface.

He understands that rage. He also remembers watching his city burn, the ruins and the screams, the hopelessness and the innocent blood of his - _their_ people... Loki bites his inner lip not to shudder at the memories, and dares these humans to challenge him. "I understand there was an item to be recovered from that location. Thor can be... single-minded."

He leveled half a mile's worth of buildings in order to get in.

"The iridium," says the man hunched over against the wall. 

He is the one that moves the least, and the one Loki's found most difficult to read yet. His instinct says that he's not seeing the sum, but just some parts, all disjointed and rubbing harshly against each other, waiting for the spark that will make them explode again. 

There was a green creature in the woods, Loki remembers.

Their eyes meet, and their beasts gnash their teeth at each other for an instant before Loki locks his away again, leaving the other floundering. A dual nature is not his curse, but he's crossed the abyss between _is_ and _can be_ , cast the good parts aside so he could swear his loyalty to the invader and not be found a liar.

He understands this man, just enough.

It is easier to be the monster.

(But monsters must be leashed, so the men can do their duty.)

The man's gaze narrows, but when nothing else happens, he shakes his head and addresses the group again. "Right, the iridium. What does he need the iridium for?"

Loki lets the smart-tongued man answer. It's nothing he hasn't learned for himself already, so he doesn't feel the obligation to pay attention. Instead he looks over the gathering, picking the candidate most likely to stab him in the back if he missteps from their script (the woman, of course; it's his luck that women are too smart to trust him), and the one most curious to learn the workings of unknown worlds and thus return the favor (the craftsman, who even as he speaks is mentally replicating Loki's weapons), and, most necessary, Loki looks for the one who will commit to saving his brother.

Because Thor must be saved.

Loki hadn't expected Thor's sanity to snap in reaction to his fake allegiance. Hadn't _dreamed_ that, in absence of everybody else, his brother might rely that much on him. Even learning that the survivors among their people had been spared due to Loki's intervention hasn't brought Thor back.

Instead it sent him on a quest for a power that will save what remains of their world.

But that won't work. Such raw power in his brother's inexpert hands... Loki shudders at the thought. Thor must come back to himself, be the hero Asgard needs. Let the Tesseract remain lost, if that's what it takes; they have a weapon already - as long as it allows his brother to wield it. If Loki is to recover their kingdom, he _needs_ Thor's help; the Mjolnir is useless otherwise, and, well...

He _is_ his brother. In all but blood.

If Thor needs him, Loki feels guilty enough that he will debase himself and ask for help from one of these humans. They are the strongest in this realm, and they call themselves honorable - even if each has their own concept of the word.

The blond, he decides. Still wide-eyed and strangely innocent, but so strong that his shield might resist Mjolnir, and it will definitely stop the scepter Thor carries now. 

In a game he cannot afford losing, trust is a risky move.

But, for Thor, for victory, it's a move worth making.

 

The End  
01/10/14


End file.
